Thinking about Opti Coat or another coating...help decide!

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BTLew81

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users of opti coat, are you 100% satisfied? I am really considering using this product, but would like some additional feedback. While I am not as talented as some of you, I am very experienced with a variety of products. One of the only things I am concerned about is the prep. Not so much the polishing, but the removal of any oils.

My question is this. If I polish with Megs, say 105/205 and finish with Optimum finish polish, would I need additional prep, or would a wipe down with OPC or just an ONR wash be sufficient?

Opti Coat really attracts me because I drive...a lot. To have little maint to do on a regular basis would be wonderful, not to mention the easily removal of bugs after the many road trips I take.

Secondly, any thoughts on OC versus Car pro? I'm looking for honest discussions here, honest feedback.

FYI the car is a silver 2011 Jetta SEL.

Any insight is really appreciated!
 
BTLew81 said:
users of opti coat, are you 100% satisfied? I am really considering using this product, but would like some additional feedback. While I am not as talented as some of you, I am very experienced with a variety of products. One of the only things I am concerned about is the prep. Not so much the polishing, but the removal of any oils.

My question is this. If I polish with Megs, say 105/205 and finish with Optimum finish polish, would I need additional prep, or would a wipe down with OPC or just an ONR wash be sufficient?

Opti Coat really attracts me because I drive...a lot. To have little maint to do on a regular basis would be wonderful, not to mention the easily removal of bugs after the many road trips I take.

Secondly, any thoughts on OC versus Car pro? I'm looking for honest discussions here, honest feedback.

FYI the car is a silver 2011 Jetta SEL.

Any insight is really appreciated!
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I'm very satisfied. And your concern with applying OC to a clean surface is a legitimate one. OC needs clean paint to perform as advertised. You can get there a number of ways. Polishing and claying should remove any waxes or sealants, so all you have to worry with are polishing residues. Those oils can be stripped with a degreaser like Power Clean or even a simple Dawn wash. IPA and paint prep products may/may not work well enough because sometimes they will allow some substances to reattach if you try to use the same towel too long to apply them. Basically, you are looking for a squeeky clean, dry surface...your means of getting there are up to you.

Optimum Finish should clean up the Meg's residue and you can clean up the OF with an ONR wash or even just a water dampened microfiber.

OC is great at preventing bugs to stick as hard as they normally do...and they won't etch into it like they would unprotected clear. Most of the time, you can just pressure wash them away. If you aren't able to get to them for a few dayse, you can soften them up by placing and ONR soaked towel on the affected part of the car for a few minutes as you do the rest of the car.

Opti Coat and Cquartz both perform as claimed. Opti Coat is a coating (like paint is a coating), but Cquartz is a nano sealant. OC becomes a polishable part of the topcoat as it bonds, CQ is a long life sealant that remains on top of the finish and will wear away over time. Ease of application goes to OC because it's basically wipe-on, lightly buff the excess, and walk away unlike CQ that needs follow up steps. OC is permanent which and will not wear away unless abrasively removed. You can also polish it a few times if needed before you strike through to the OEM clear.

On your silver paint, it will be harder to see defects and areas of over application. I suggest getting a swirl finder light to inspect your correction and to look at each Opti Coated section before continuing to the next.
 
Thanks, Chris. As always, a great answer. If I were to use Meg's polishes, would CarPro Eraser work well to prep? I thought about optimum finish, but I really dont think it will do much on my hard clear. Perhaps I should just go with Polish II and then ONR/damp MF it.

Any thoughts there are appreciated.
 
Since Dr. G is always improving his products, what are the odds that OC will be slicker in future iterations?

I know the current version sheds dirt like nobody's business but increased slickness has got to play a role too non?
 
Wouldn't using ONR before coating leave behind some polymers?
 
bmwgeek said:
Wouldn't using ONR before coating leave behind some polymers?
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That was also my first thought.


Far as being happy with having put OC on my brand new car, no question about it. Granted it is not a dripping wet look, but the car looks great. Thus far, at about 6 months it seems to be holding up great, even in the area I had to polish out a scratch from a icy snow bank...

The only thing I have noticed thus far, is I have little brown spots in some areas (vertical panels), not sure what it is yet, clay removes it slowly (pinnacle poly) but polish definitely takes it off the surface whereas washing doesn't. (seems to big to be rust from metal particles but the right color, I have iron x on the way to try on it, suppose it got splattered with something). On the wheels, which I also did, nothing has stuck. Tar, brake dust, or dirt, all just wipes off with car wash soap and a sponge.
 
bmwgeek said:
Wouldn't using ONR before coating leave behind some polymers?
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I was thinking as well... If you are adament on washing after using a polish, just stick with a strong citrus wash in the same concentration that you'd use to get rid of wax.
 
Just do what Chris suggested... I don't know how ONR came into the picture as that was never a product aimed at prepping a squeeky clean surface.
 
I wanted to be sure. I washed, clayed, preped, washed, IPAd and applied. Worked great, looks great, washes better.
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Very nice and professional reply Chris...


:dblthumb2:
Click to expand...

Thank you, sir!

bmwgeek said:
Wouldn't using ONR before coating leave behind some polymers?
Click to expand...

ONR should not inhibit OC from bonding to the paint (it can be painted over), but you will need something stronger if polishing with other polishes besides ours that is why we don't suggest it more. It's just not strong enough to remove some polishing oils. I actually used ONR after Polish II before coating my BMW with no other step in between.:props:
 
last question, I promise... :) Using Polish II to polish/strip existing LSP (Meg's 20), an ONR wash would be sufficient to prep the surface? Or would you suggest using Eraser or a dawn washing instead? Thanks, Chris. This is the type of service that sells product!
 
I'd like to chime in with a question for Chris.

Specifically, I have picked up from this forum that even the sealants won't stop things like water etching, bug splats and bird bombs from attacking the paint. Since I don't mind applying sealants etc, the real attraction of Opti Coat 2 to me is whether the paint will be absolutely protected against these problems.
 
BTLew81 said:
users of opti coat, are you 100% satisfied? I am really considering using this product, but would like some additional feedback. While I am not as talented as some of you, I am very experienced with a variety of products. One of the only things I am concerned about is the prep. Not so much the polishing, but the removal of any oils.

My question is this. If I polish with Megs, say 105/205 and finish with Optimum finish polish, would I need additional prep, or would a wipe down with OPC or just an ONR wash be sufficient?

Opti Coat really attracts me because I drive...a lot. To have little maint to do on a regular basis would be wonderful, not to mention the easily removal of bugs after the many road trips I take.

Secondly, any thoughts on OC versus Car pro? I'm looking for honest discussions here, honest feedback.

FYI the car is a silver 2011 Jetta SEL.

Any insight is really appreciated!
Click to expand...

I am a novice, but I found that Opti Coat was a great product choice for me. I followed all of the prep steps as outlined by Chris. I am very satisfied with the results. You will not be disappointed with the results.
 
I would like to respond to this with my experience with OC 2.0.

I am not a pro detailer or even a semi-pro, I am just an average weekend warrior that works on my DD and sometimes my mothers car. I decided to use OC 2.0 on my VW about a month ago to provide it pretty much worry free protection.

Application is pretty straight forward and not too difficult for a beginner. I wasn't sure I was getting good coverage at first but I noticed that going in circles was easier for me than doing the straight line method. Another thing is my pad grabbed a lot at first, but this was due to me not using enough product.

The second "problem" I had was working with a white car so it was hard for me to see high spots or if I got coverage, but if you overlap sections I noticed I never got 1 high spot. I also layered it since OC 2.0 is able to layer and I wasn't sure if I got full coverage. Some might say its overkill, but I am okay with it.

Overall, great product, just slightly more difficult to apply than a standard sealant/wax, but the gloss it gives is incredible and the water/dirt shedding properties are also amazing.

Here is my car with OC 2.0 about a week after with no topper.

e5348971.jpg
 
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BTLew81 said:
How long did you wait before layering?
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About 2 days. Between the layering I drove it, so I did a waterless wash then an IPA wipe down. Some people don't recommend the IPA wipe down but my paint is extremely hard so it is a little more resistant to marring.
 
poweraid said:
I think u wasted u time and money by layering
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While I might agree with you, i wouldn't say it's a COMPLETE waste of time.

Of course law of diminishing returns dictates that with every additional layer, you get less benefit, which is especially true for something of the nature of OC.
However it's not like layering won't add anything to it at all, and i'm sure it might add an extra micron in protection, which might be all it takes to possibly prevent a chip given that OC is harder than clearcoat.
 
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